Swallow

by D.M. Thomas

Thomas (The White Hotel) calls this an "improvisational novel." It is set at a fictional Olympiad in Finland, where competitors spontaneously narrate long, intricate tales that are judged for artistic quality. PW gave Swallow sevens and eights, remarking, "The sometimes slight fictions cannot always support the controlling intention, but the ambitious enterprise is refreshingly imaginative, a nimble exercise in literary levitation.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

D.M. Thomas was born in Cornwall in 1935. After reading English at New College, Oxford, he became a teacher and was Head of the English Department at Hereford College of Education until he became a full-time writer. His first novel The Flute-Player won the Gollancz Pan/Picador Fantasy Competition. He is also known for his collections of verse and his translation from the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova.

He was awarded the Los Angeles Fiction prize for his novel The White Hotel, an international bestseller, translated into 30 languages; a Cholmondeley award for poetry; and the Orwell Prize for his biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He lives in his native Cornwall, England.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second in a quintet of improvised novels, Swallow is set at an Olympiad in Finland for improvisatori (folk who improvise stories in contests, or used to in 18thC Italy), and follows the eccentric improvisers in the time leading up to the result. The most prominent is Corinna, a sexually manipulative femme whose Russian poet character Rozanov improvised the novel Ararat following a sexual conquest with a blind woman (remember?). The more interesting material takes place between the improvised stories themselves—an autobiographical adventure and tedious pastiche of King Soloman’s Mines cause some mid-point lag—with the repartee and sexual shenanigans the more exciting meat of the novel. Thomas has a love of tales-within-tales-within-tales and fictional labyrinths in common with John Barth, with whom he shares a robust sense of humour.

[Kaleb Rittenhouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

my poet aunt gifted this book to me many years ago and i am happy to have at last completed its read. chapter 5 was a fun jaunt and i am also happy i dont have to wonder at the cover anymore. there is lots of sex in this book which i might have appreciated more when first i was gifted it though its been some time since ive read something with so many nipples vulvas and cocks.

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent novel, multi-layered and complex with despicable but fascinating characters. D.M. Thomas is an exceptional writer. I didn't much care for *The White Hotel* but many of his other novels have proved to be wonderful.

*Swallow* is a sequel to *Ararat* but is more profound in scope and much more elaborately structured. Indeed the action of the earlier novel turns out to be nothing more than the continuing improvisation of one of the storytellers taking part in the storytelling Olympics that form the main background of this book. Tales within tales, most concerned with painful autobiographical moments or sexual politics, mesh together in such a way that the boundaries between reality and fiction become completely blurred.

In keeping with the multilayered meanings, the title of the novel refers to at least three different things: the bird, the act of oral sex, the act of spying (a 'swallow' was a beautiful Russian girl employed the KGB to seduce western diplomats).

[Jami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel, once again, makes me thrilled that I discovered this Cornish writer. The idea of oral improvisations within the written novel is really fascinating and in this second book of the five book grouping on the same subject, I've grown to really love the way DM Thomas' writing surprises me and how it changes the way I read, how I listen or ignore to the narrator when I feel that it's important to the overarching story. These novels take time in order to fully digest what he is doing, but it's worth it and I'm ready for the next one.

I have quotes to share too but I'll add those later as time permits. This novel was loaded with some notable ones.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not really sure what to say about this book. It’s an unusual read , full of poetry and a lot of characters that I found hard to concentrate on.

[Frank Ashe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very disappointing. Maybe only 2 stars. Thomas tried too hard.

[Toby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-read after many years and just as good as I remembered. Thomas packs so much into this it’s almost too full of ideas. Poetry, memoir, farce, politics, sexual shenanigans, all under the umbrella of a wild improvisation. It’s a heady brew, and a genuinely under appreciated classic.

[Homo · Rating 4 out of 5]

yeah yeah yeah yeah

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

can't recomend